[A surgical case of acute massive pulmonary embolism associated with a giant free-floating inferior vena cava thrombus].

The risk and mortality of pulmonary embolism is high in patients with free-floating inferior vena cava thrombi. We present a successful surgical case of a 70-year-old male who had acute massive pulmonary embolism associated with a giant free-floating inferior vena cava thrombus extending above the renal veins. Emergent thrombectomy of the pulmonary artery and the inferior vena cava using cardiopulmonary bypass was carried out because he was considered at high risk for fatal recurrent pulmonary embolism. Prophylactical insertion of a Greenfield filter in the inferior vena cava was added. In this report, diagnosis and treatment of inferior vena cava thrombosis is also discussed.